Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s allies are questioning the donations, and note that Cynthia Nixon has so far not released her personal tax return — something she reiterated this week she will do, “as soon as it’s ready.” | AP Photo

Cynthia Nixon’s family foundation contributed to groups that endorsed her

ALBANY — Working through her family foundation, actor Cynthia Nixon has donated tens of thousands of dollars to several progressive groups that are now supporting her campaign for governor, a POLITICO review has found.

Nixon, who‘s challenging Gov. Andrew Cuomo in a Democratic primary by saying he is not a true progressive, has contributed at least $54,000 from 2012-2016 to four organizations that either have endorsed her run or have affiliates backing her, according to tax returns for the foundation filed with the New York State Attorney General’s Office.

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The “Sex and the City” star’s team says the contributions demonstrate her commitment to progressive causes, including education equity, and leaders of the groups in question say their endorsements and support are based on Nixon’s stances.

Cuomo’s allies are questioning the donations, and note that Nixon has so far not released her personal tax return — something she reiterated this week she will do, “as soon as it’s ready.”

“I think it’s clear she was contemplating running for some sort of office for quite a while. So while not a quid pro quo, it was absolutely a down payment on an endorsement,” said Mike McGuire, a building trades leader who has endorsed Cuomo and criticized the Working Families Party, which has endorsed Nixon.

“Was she just supporting them because they’re good groups, or was she supporting them because she was contemplating a run for office and [they] could then get her support?” McGuire continued.

Nixon’s bid has pitted progressive groups like the ones she has supported against labor unions, most of which are backing Cuomo in a Democratic fight that has echoes of Sen. Bernie Sanders' challenge to Hillary Clinton. Cuomo is sitting on a $30 million war chest; Nixon contends that much of that money was culled from people with business before the state.

And according to a Quinnipiac Poll released Wednesday, Cuomo leads Nixon 50-28 among enrolled Democrats. That 22-point lead is down from a 31-point advantage in a Siena poll conducted in April. A Marist poll conducted in April and a Siena poll in March both found Cuomo with a 47-point advantage.

It’s unclear what donations the foundation made in 2017 because its return for that year has not yet been posted online and is not required to be until Dec. 31. Rebecca Katz, a senior adviser to Nixon’s campaign, declined to provide it.

“This is my comment: Cynthia and Christine [Marinoni, Nixon’s wife] have been trying to make sure community groups are healthy for years, and Gov. Cuomo is trying to kill them,” she told POLITICO before hanging up the phone.

On April 17, Cuomo made his tax return available for inspection by journalists — something he has done for more than a decade as a state official, but for which there is no legal requirement. The governor has said his rivals should follow suit: Republican candidate Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro said he will release his 2017 return Thursday.

Nixon’s aides say she filed for an extension this yearfor her personal taxes, but told reporters Monday while walking a picket line at Columbia University that she would at least make the extension available by week’s end.

“My taxes are very complicated,” she said. “I think I file in nine different states.”

Jerry Goldfeder, a veteran election lawyer, noted that former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was criticized for contributing to nonprofit groups that supported his agenda.

“It certainly raises questions when contributions are made to groups that then turn around and endorse you,” said Goldfeder, who worked on public integrity matters for Cuomo when he was attorney general. “During the run-up to her candidacy and during her candidacy, the public has a right to know whether her family foundation is funneling money to groups that endorse her.”

The Nixon-Marinoni Family Foundation was set up in 2009 with $1 million donated by Nixon, records show, and lists the actor as president and Marinoni as treasurer. Between 2010 and 2016, it distributed $308,475 in grants to almost 90 organizations, including many supporting theater education or LGBT rights as well as the couple’s synagogue.

The second-largest beneficiary, after the Roundabout Theatre Company, was the Public Policy and Education Fund of New York, an Albany-based 501(c)(3) group that is affiliated with Citizen Action of New York and the Alliance for Quality Education, according to its tax returns.

Nixon’s foundation donated $5,000 to the group in 2013, $8,000 in 2014, $10,000 in 2015 and $8,000 in 2016, the foundation’s tax returns show. Like all 501(c)(3) groups, the PPEFNY is not required to publicly disclose its donors. But the Nixon-Marinoni Family Foundation was listed as a donor on the PPEFNY website until mid-April, when the donors page was taken offline.

Karen Scharff is PPEFNY’s executive director. She also serves as executive director of Citizen Action of New York and is a co-chair of the Working Families Party — both of which have endorsed Nixon’s campaign.

Scharff said the donations are a small part of PPEFNY’s operating budget, which is about $3 million a year, and said the candidate also sent money in 2017.

“She’s been working with us on education, and she’s been good enough to give us one or two contributions a year from the family foundation to put toward the outreach and organizing work we do with parents,” Scharff said. “We have a lot of donors. They give us money for the work that we do, and that’s of course much appreciated. Our endorsement process is completely separate from that.“

According to tax filings, PPEFNY, Citizen Action and the Alliance for Quality Education are all based in the same building.

Alliance for Quality Education Executive Director Billy Easton, whose group received $5,000 from Nixon in 2016, said she has been a volunteer spokesman for AQE for more than a decade. His group has not formally endorsed Nixon, but hosted her at a press conference in Albany to call for increased school spending several days after she launched her campaign.

“She’s been a strong supporter of our work for a very long time,” Easton said. “So I think [the donation] made sense.”

The Nixon-Marinoni Family Foundation also contributed $13,000 to New York Communities for Change between 2012 and 2015 as well as $5,000 in 2013 to the Black Institute, whose leader, Bertha Lewis, has endorsed Nixon. NYCC, which was a successor to the group ACORN, was the first major group to endorse Nixon.

NYCC Executive Director Jonathan Westin said his group’s endorsement was based on Nixon’s stances regarding housing.

“What this showed is that Cynthia Nixon has been a supporter of grass-roots organizing for years and years and years,” he said.

Lewis said the donation to her group arose from a conversation with Marinoni, whom she has known for years, and that her support for Nixon came out of her displeasure with Cuomo.

“It was five years ago. Who knew five years ago that she would actually run?” Lewis said. “I was so happy to hear that somebody was running against that governor — I’ve never supported him.”

Cuomo also threatened the funding for groups like NYCC and Citizen Action, according to Working Families Party state director Bill Lipton, saying last month that unions or other funders could “lose my number” if they sent them money. Union leaders have disputed Lipton’s allegation.

Katz did not say if Nixon makes personal charitable contributions in addition to the work of the family foundation. The foundation giving far exceeds Cuomo’s, who donates about 5 percent of his annual income to charity: $11,000 in 2017, $20,000 in 2016, $10,000 in 2015 and $27,000 in 2014.

The recipient is always the same — HELP USA, a homeless housing organization that the governor founded. Its board is chaired by Maria Cuomo Cole, the governor’s sister, and includes Richard Sirota, his campaign treasurer, according to recent tax records.